This disclosure relates to an automation system and, more particularly, to an automation system for deployment in a building.
In multi-room buildings, each room often has devices such as thermostats, light switches, controllers, etc. installed therein. Recently, as it has become possible to provide such devices with high performance micro-processors and networking capabilities and as the Internet of Things (IoT) has become more popular and desired, many buildings have begun upgrading their systems. Thus, hotels, dormitories, senior living facilities, hospitals, office buildings and so on now have systems of high performance and networked electrical devices installed in their respective rooms.
When such networked systems are provided in a building, the installer needs to configure each electrical device for each room so that each electrical device is associated with a corresponding room identifier. This way, data capturing and control with respect to the electrical devices from remote locations is fully and properly enabled. For example, if networked thermostats are installed in a building with three rooms, the networked thermostats need to be configured with their correct room addresses so that, if a remote user wants to change the temperature in only room #2, only the thermostat in room #2 will perform this command with the other thermostats remaining unaffected. Similarly, if the thermostat in room #3 detects a fault condition for cooling the room, then the alarm should be associated with only that room so that the service engineer is not sent to the incorrect room.
To configure the room identifiers, various systems offer different options. Some equipment can be put into a service mode where the installer can enter the room identifier in one of the service pages. In other cases, the installer uses a tool, such as a tablet, laptop or proprietary handheld device to program the room identifier into the device. In other systems, the electrical devices include dip-switches that allow the installer to set an identifier. Regardless of the selected technology, this is a manual process and fraught with costs and risks.
Therefore, a first issue often arises during the initial installation. Typically for larger installations, trained installers handle the deployment of equipment but because they visit many rooms in a relatively short time period and though the installers might be very experienced, they often rush through the process and make mistakes. For example, after installing equipment on a 4th floor of a building and then starting to install equipment on the 5th floor, the installer might still think he is on the 4th floor and assign 4th floor room identifiers to the 5th floor equipment or he may simply swap one room's equipment for another. Even if the installer completes the installation correctly, another person might move equipment around without correcting the configurations.
Additional issues are encountered once a building has been handed over to the operator and system maintenance takes over. Here, failed equipment often needs to be replaced and spare parts need to be properly configured to assure the configuration integrity of the system. During this phase, the person who needs to perform these operations is often not well trained, might have little experience and sometimes lacks the motivation to do the task properly. It also is quite a common occurrence that if equipment fails, equipment from other rooms is “borrowed” as a short-term fix and later the donating room gets new equipment. This procedure opens the door to where configured devices move to a new location and are not properly adapted to their new home.
The combined effects of these issues continuously and gradually lead to degradation of systems.